2
Housekeeping… Following todays presentation, the subsequent White Paper will be emailed to all attendees White Paper is also available at www.powerreviews.com Webinar will be recorded for viewing with presentation available on PowerReviews website 2

3
Jay Shaffer VP of Sales & Marketing PowerReviews Retailer by heart and by trade Long career in customer advocacy VP of Customer Experience @ Wine.com VP of Marketing @ Directly Home Director of Customer Acquisition @ Ofoto.com (KodakEasyShare) Jay Shaffer is VP of Sales & Marketing at PowerReviews, where he educates online retailers about its Customer Reviews Solution and promotes Buzzillions.com, its performance - based shopping research portal.Buzzillions.com 3

6
Why Did We Do The Research? Understand the use of reviews by current online shoppers: convenience vs. commitment Confirm our vision of Social Navigation – how much do shoppers really like and want this new way of shopping? How merchants define the success of reviews on their site? How do merchants measure ROI? 6

7
Lauren Freedman President the e-tailing group Her company's annual mystery shopping and merchant surveys provide a comprehensive overview of the state of e- commerce, setting industry standards while simultaneously highlighting best practices. Proprietary consumer and merchant research studies on in store pickup and gifting Strategist, Merchant, Facilitator, Educator and Spokesperson for sites that have included: Toys "R" Us The Vitamin Shoppe J.Jill Scholastic West Marine Mercado ATG Author, "It's Just Shopping, a comprehensive, behind-the-scenes look at the evolution of multi-channel selling. In 1994, Lauren Freedman leveraged her 15 year retail and catalog career and passion for merchandising to found the e- tailing group, inc. The firm's mission is providing strategic and e-commerce solutions to online merchants as well as businesses targeting that market. 7

9
9 Consumer Survey: Methodology And Sample An online questionnaire was completed by 1,200 consumers (50%women/50% men) who shop online at least 4 times per year, spending $500 or more annually Q3 70% of respondents shopped online more than once a month last year 65% of those surveyed spend $750 or more online annually

10
10 Top-line Findings: The Customer Consumers show a dependency on customer reviews, becoming addicted to the value These power shoppers, coined Social Researchers, have a propensity to always read reviews with significant time invested in the process Reviews are valuable regardless of the product category Customers prefer to know what other customers think rather than being shown the merchant point-of-view Understanding the selections and preferences of like-minded individuals is appealing Women are driven by convenience, reading reviews where available while men seek out multiple sources to satisfy informational needs Decision-making is all in the edit as information that fosters customer selection from product pros and cons simplifies the task of narrowing downing choices Tools that use customer feedback throughout the shopping research process add value to selecting and purchasing a product

11
11 The Raw Value of Reviews No matter how many reviews they receive customers continue to add their voice. A product may already have a rating of 4.9/5 but someone will still write another positive review. The consumers want their opinion out there as can be seen by this example where Phyllis has shared her story including sending images of her dogs. Initially we were only going to ask for up to 20 reviews but have learned that 50 reviews are more valuable in terms of conversion and the bottom line. John Lazarchic VP of E-commerce, Petco Petco Product Review

12
12 Confidence, Trust, and Conversion Result At Staples everything onsite has to do with guest experience; giving guests confidence in buying, Peter Howard, Senior Vice President, Staples Business Delivery Staples: Top-Rated Gifts showcase the customer point of view The sticky by-product adds long-term value as customers return and re-buy with trust already established. The unbiased value proposition of reviews provides another viewpoint that is not directly connected to the merchant.

13
13 New breed of shopper - the Social Researcher they place particular emphasis on social feedback in making product decisions 65% of online shoppers are Social Researchers who read reviews always or most of the time prior to making product purchase decisions Of this group: 64% research products online more than ½ the time, no matter where they buy the product (store, web, catalog) vs. 54% of all respondents 76% find top rated products as rated by customers to be extremely or very important vs. 62% for all of these online shoppers 86% find customer reviews extremely or very important vs. 70% for all online shoppers surveyed

14
14 Researching dominates consumer behavior and crosses channels 54% research online more than ½ the time before buying in any channel Q3 Men tend to be heavier researchers as 26% stated that more than 75% of overall shopping involves researching products online vs.18% of the women surveyed

15
15 Most shoppers rely heavily on customer reviews 65% of the time customer reviews are read always or most of the time prior to making a decision to purchase a product Q5

16
16 Customer reviews foster decision-making in all stages of the shopping process 81% use customer reviews to decide between 2-3 products or to confirm that their final selection is the right one; 40% begin their shopping by reading them Q7 (total 1171)

17
17 Of those who read customer reviews, 61% typically spend 5-29 minutes reading them Note that ½ the respondents spend 10 minutes or more reading these reviews. Q11 (total 1171) A greater percentage of surveyed men (59%) typically spend more than one hour reading reviews vs. women (41%)

19
19 Social Navigation (ability to narrow selection by customer feedback) 82% of survey respondents found reading reviews better than researching a product in-store with a knowledgeable sales associate Social Researchers are 76% percent more likely to shop on a retailers website vs. a competitors site if it offers social navigation

20
20 Consumers express where and how they want to see reviews shown When browsing reviews, shoppers prefer to read first: most current (45%) most helpful (28%) When searching for products on a retailers website, shoppers prefer to see top-rated products listed first Highest customer rankings (53%) retailers best sellers (20%) Golfsmith landing page with Top Sellers People seem to enjoy the reviews, which serve as a sticky feature where guest satisfaction becomes the byproduct Matt Corey, VP Marketing, Golfsmith

21
21 Social Navigation bridges the gap between online and offline shopping experiences Online Shoes – Social Navigation with Like Interests (64%) with Similar Uses (59%) for the product such as for travel or for home office who sought out the same product Pros (56%) such as durable, lightweight or easy to use Study participants found it extremely or very helpful to narrow product selection based on feedback from people just like them

23
23 Top-line Findings: Merchant Strategies Reviews are a must-have merchant functionality to compete online today Reviews are not about ROI but ultimately about the evolution of the customer experience and the creation of communities Reviews provide a profitable and customer-centric entry into social networking and Web 2.0 Merchant brand and their respective customers influence ability to generate reviews Site-wide integration coupled with an exploration of cross-channel tactics are next evolution of the feature set Long term, merchants believe that customer reviews will reward them with customer loyalty

24
24 Customer Experience Tops the List of Why Merchants Add Reviews to Their Site Building customer loyalty and driving sales ranked #2 and #3

25
25 Reviews Support Branding and Foster Loyalty Ace is known as the helpful place where reviews contribute by reinforcing the brand message. With many of our customers being first time buyers, its an opportunity to also build a loyal base. Dana Kevish, E-commerce Marketing Manager, Ace Hardware Ace Home Page Links: Top Rated + Featured Products, Top Sellers; Whats New

26
26 Competitive Pressure is a Real Factor The social networking connection to ratings and reviews gave us an entrée into Web 2.0 without being over the edge. Brad Wolansky VP of E-Commerce, Orvis REI was behind in the game; through site usability examination we found that customers were leaving the site to look at reviews elsewhere and that was eye- opening. Ben Viscon, Director E-commerce, REI We recommend reviews to clients as the best entrée into social shopping, particularly in a retail context where the summary functionality is useful from the shopping experience perspective. Rich Zapf, Sr. Product Manager, GSI Commerce Customers expect relevant content hat helps them make a purchase. It is important to meet that expectation. Jay Gordman, Director of eCommerce, NetShops

27
27 Customer Involvement Builds Community We make a concerted effort to listen to our customers; its part of our brand message thats communicated on our home page and entrenched in our heritage where reviews facilitate such listening. Peter Cobb SVP and Co-founder, eBags eBags Home Page - Dont Listen to Us, Listen To Our Customer messaging supported by over 1.2 million reviews.

28
28 Customers Passion For and Time Spent with Reviews Astounds Many Merchants First and foremost reviews were seen as essential to our customers; more so than the product description… It's been seven years [since we introduced reviews] so we believe in them. Spokesperson, Zappos Zappos: product page – with reviews prominently featured

31
31 Top-line Findings: Performance and By-Products Customer review measurement techniques are in their infancy The sweet spot of reviews not surprisingly is at the product page with email marketing also delivering positive results Biggest challenge is around populating both breadth of assortment and the depth of any given sku with some variance based on the passion of the merchant community Customer satisfaction and site engagement are the biggest impact points from product reviews

32
32 Beyond Categories That Typically Contain Reviews, They Would Be Welcome In More Categories Toys & Video Games (69%), Sporting Goods (55%); Gifts/Specialty Foods (54%) top the list of categories where respondents would find reviews extremely to very helpful Q10

33
33 The Majority of Merchants Have Less Than 10% of Customers Completing Reviews Key participation influencers: Nature/timing of follow-up emails to garner reviews; respective incentives Community nature of the audience result in significantly greater participation: Mountain Gear (50% of customers emailed have posted reviews); REI (3000 reviews in 3 weeks) Cross-channel participation from store shipments: Drove more participation at Famous Footwear than any other marketing effort Focus on overall number of reviews: More important to merchants than rather than % of customers

34
34 % of Reviews By Product is in the 0-10% Range % of Reviews By Product is in the 0-10% Range Though Outreach Efforts and a Strong Community Contribute to Higher Penetration Merchants with high turns believe 10% penetration of reviews is strong Split personality impacts the long tail where best sellers are populated and poor sellers have no reviews based on email review generating strategy Merchant longevity and product turn – also factors in maintenance of high % penetration of products (i.e. luggage and backpacks at eBags)

35
35 The Product Page is the Review Hub REI: Product Page – reviews prominent within tabbed selling structure 79% of merchants rated the product page as where reviews performed most successfully within their sites Tactics for integrating reviews: Educate the shopper that reviews are part of the site experience Draw further attention to feature product Peruse our top-rated products Liquidate deep inventory

36
36 Email: Execution Starts with Post-order Feedback Blue Nile Email sent: 9/12/07 Subject line: We Value Your Feedback Note: Unfortunately, not all companies are in a position to send email post transactions putting a damper on their ability to populate reviews

37
37 Email Outreach Is Effective Email Outreach Is Effective Just under 1/3 of these merchants tested reviews within email with most reporting very successful results Mountain Gear: 2.5-3% incremental revenue increase from those who were emailed to complete a review and subsequently placed an additional order. Golfsmith: 42% more sales via promotional emails with reviews vs. the control group Petco: Emails sent with highly reviewed products vs. standard reviews saw a 5-15% bump over standard Email will likely be an important growth area based on such strong early results and its inexpensive cost to deploy. Its role includes introducing top rate products while simultaneously populating onsite reviews as the following examples illustrate.

42
42 Reviewed Products See Exponential Growth A performance mentality exists with comparables to non-reviewed product topping the list of merchant measurement techniques Increase in sales and conversion along with a reduced return rate are also key merchant indicators Interest in understanding how positive reviews perform versus negative; also how existing top sellers are performing with populated reviews also cited

43
43 Often Difficult to Determine the Impact of Reviews on Sales and Conversion Dont Know Dominates Overall Conversion Increase Don't have metrics; can't measure when multiple features are involved. Beach Audio Natural search elements are key; people write the word tent and that mention is critical. REI 30% in sales per visitor on reviewed products; luggage 84% increase. Orvis

44
44 Reduced Returns and Cross-channel Impact Unexpected consequences of onsite review Petco: Products typically saw a 1% return rate but with reviews return rates dropped to.83% on higher ticket items and for products that have 50 reviews, returns decreased by 4% Golfsmith: Return reduction from 5.2% to 2.7% since reviews were implemented REI: Measuring the print-button in anticipation of consumers armed with copies of product reviews secured online for use during store visits With analytics getting more sophisticated, there will be increased scrutiny relative to the performance of all metrics, even those that are free, given the finite nature of onsite real estate and outbound email efforts We would expect that merchants will continually refine their presentations to achieve best-in-class execution

45
45 Future Initiatives Future Initiatives More in-depth integration, cross-channel initiatives, search optimization and evolving email solicitations will follow product page placement and email outreach REI - Integration of search results at the category page level Paragon Sports - Integrate product thumbnails with reviews on landing pages Golfsmith - Sort ratings and reviews by handicap The Knot - Integrate top choices within editorial content highlighting products using language such as more brides satisfied with this product vs. any other. Famous Footwear - Use reviews to reach out to store-base via in-store signage and identification of top rated products eBags - Profile by customer segment as a precursor or enhancement to the interest in social networking Zappos - Leverage analytics to optimize the numbers and elevate existing merchandising